Tie-knot unit

ABSTRACT

A tie-knot unit formed by an outer casing including forward and rear casing members hingedly interconnected at their upper ends. The casing has two upper openings, aligned on opposite sides of the hinge, and a bottom opening through which the ends of the tie can hang. A separator means is provided within the casing to separate that portion of the tie entering through one upper opening from that portion of the tie entering through the other upper opening, as said portions pass downwardly toward and through the bottom opening.

United States Patent 1 Tsang [451 July17, 1973 TIE-KNOT UNIT [76] Inventor: Chout Wun Tsang, 35 Main King Bldg, 1 1/Floor Man Ying St., Jordan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong [22] Filed: Feb. 22, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 117,289

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Feb. 23, 1970 Great Britain 8,517/70 [52] US. Cl. 24/153, 2/152 [51] Int. Cl. A47b 19/00 [58] Field of Search 2/152, 153, 154; 24/153 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,269,017 1/1942 Gladstone 2/153 1,696,790 12/1928 Bongiovanni 24/248 2,617,108 11/1952 Anzell 2/153 1,438,885 12/1922 Almedia 2/153 Primary Examiner-Francis K. Zugel Assistant Examiner-Garry Moore Attorney-Roylance, Abrams, Berdo 8L Kaul [57] ABSTRACT A tie-knot unit formed by an outer casing including forward and rear casing members hingedly interconnected at their upper ends. The casing has two upper openings, aligned on opposite sides of the hinge, and a bottom opening through which the ends of the tie can hang. A separator means is provided within the casing to separate that portion of the tie entering through one upper opening from that portion of the tie entering through the other upper opening, as said portions pass downwardly toward and through the bottom opening.

4 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures PATENIEBJUUYIQB 3,745,614

sum 1 0F 2 INVENTOR CHOUT WUN TSANG ATTORNEYS.

PATENTED JUL 1 H915 SHEET 2 [IF 2 INVENTOR CHOUT WUN TSANG BY 4 fl/zafiw, uo ZZ ATTORNEYS,

TIE-KNOT UNIT This invention relates to a tie-knot unit which can be used with a conventional elongated mans necktie and which serves to form the knot in the necktie without the necessity for manipulating the ends of the necktie to manually tie a knot.

It is conventional at the present time for a man to wrap a necktie about his neck and to manually tie the same into a knot. This is generally accomplished through manipulation of the material of the necktie to form a loop, and then inserting one of the ends of the necktie through the loop to hand tie the knot. Under certain circumstances, particularly when no mirror is present, it is often difficult and time consuming to perform such a manually tying operation for a necktie. One way in which the prior art approached this problem was to provide a pre-tied necktie wherein the knot was permanently formed therein. However, this proposal had its own disadvantages, such as the fact that the quantity of neckties which were pre-tied, and the selection thereof, were necessarily were quite limited. Also, once one purchased such a permanently knotted tie, it was not possible to hand tie the knot, even if one wanted to.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a unit which can manually be attached to a necktie to form the semblance of a knot at the juncture of the wearers collar, yet wherein the tails or ends of the necktie are not actually inter-knotted with each other.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a tie-knot unit which can be quickly and easily attached to any existing conventional necktie and which, when so attached, presents the appearance of a knot having a contrasting decorative appearance with respect to the remainder of the necktie.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive unit which can operate satisfactorily for the purpose of attaching a necktie and providing a knotted appearance thereto.

Other objects, advantages and salient features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses certain preferred embodiments thereof.

The foregoing objects are attained by providing a tieknot unit having a forward casing member and a rear casing member hingedly inter-connected together at their upper ends. The casing members are configured in such a manner that a pair of upper openings are provided, one on each side of the hinge means, and so that a bottom opening is provided through which the ends of the necktie can hang. The ends hanging through the bottom opening can be adjusted with respect to one another to alter the length thereof. Within the unit, a separator means is provided to separate that portion of the necktie entering through one upper opening from that portion of the necktie entering through the other upper opening.

Referring now to the drawings, which form a part of this original disclosure:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a tie-knot unit in accordance with the principles of the present invention;

FIGS. 2-4 are further perspective view illustrating the manner in which the embodiment of FIG. 1 is used in conjunction with a conventional necktie;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of another embodiment of a tie-knot unit in accordance with the principles of the present invention; and

FIGS. 6-10 are further perspective views showing the manner in which he embodiment of FIG. 5 is used in conjunction with a conventional necktie.

Referring now to FIG. 1 for a further description of the present invention, the tie-knot unit illustrated therein is generally designated 10. Such unit includes a forward casing member 12 and a rear casing member 14. The forward casing member 12 is provided with a top or upper edge surface 16, a forward central surface 18 which curls into a pair of side flanges or side walls 20. The bottom edge 22 where the side walls 20 and the forward wall 18 merge together forms a generally semicircular configuration.

The rear casing member 14 also includes an upper.

portion 24, a rear central portion 26 and a pair of side walls or side flanges 28 which fit within the side walls or side flanges 20 of the forward casing member. The bottom edge 30 of the rear casing member where the central portion 26 and the side portions 28 merge with one another, is formed in a semi-circular configuration.

A hinge means 32 inter-connects the casing members 12 and 14 at their upper ends, and more specifically, the hinge means 32 inter-connect between the rear edge of the upper portion 16 and the forward edge of the upper portion 24. If desired, a hinge biasing leaf spring 34 can also be employed, with the ends thereof being respectively connected with the portions 16 and 24 of the forward and rear casing members.

On opposite sides of the hinge 32, the casing members are cut away in such a manner as to form a pair of upper openings in the unit 10. Specifically, the upper portion 16 of the forward casing member 12 is cut away in a rounded manner, as shown at 36. Likewise, the upper portion 24 of the rear casing member 14, and also a portion of the side wall 28 thereof, are cut away in a rounded manner as shown at 38.

As a result of this arrangement, when the two casing members 12 and 14 are folded together along the hinge line 32 to a closed position, three separate openings are formed. Two of these openings are upper openings, formed on opposite sides of the hinge 32, with such openings being circumscribed by the edges 36 and 38. These openings are designated in FIG. 4 as A and B. Additionally, a circular bottom opening is formed and circumscribed by the bottom edges 22 and 30, and this opening is designated C in FIG. 4. A central or longitudinal axis passing through the circular bottom opening C will extend perpendicularly to the axis passing through the hinge 32 and will centrally intersect the same.

The casing sections are preferably formed of a rigid metal material and the outer surface thereof can be polished to provide an attractive and ornamental appearance. A sheet of fabric 40 can be adhered to the interior of the rear casing member 14 in order to prevent any damage to, or wear upon, the fabric material of the necktie with which the device 10 is used.

The device or unit 10 also includes therewithin, a separator means. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the separator means includes a hollowed tube 42 attached centrally to theportion 26 of the rear casing member and projecting forwardly thereof. A pair of tapered guide wings 44 are provided at the mouth or inlet of the tube 42. On the opposite or forward casing member 12, there is mounted a post 46 having a knob 48 at the end thereof. When the casing portions are swung together, the knob 48 frictionally inserts into the interior of the tube 42, thus holding the parts in a closed position.

For an understanding of the manner in which the device of FIG. 1 operates in conjunction with a necktie, attention is directed to FIGS. 2-4. In FIG. 2, the small or rear tail of the necktie is introduced through the upper opening A and is wrapped about one side of the tube 42, and it then passes downwardly through the bottom opening C. In FIG. 3, the opposite for forward tail 52 of the necktie is introduced through he upper opening B, passes across the top of the tail 50, wraps around the opposite side of the separator post 42, then passes downwardly through the bottom opening C. In FIG. 4, the two casing halves are closed upon one another, and they are held in this closed position by frictional engagement of the knob 48 within the post 42. Even in this position, it is still possible to slide one tail 50 with respect to the other tail 52, to thus adjust the knot-unit l and the necktie upon the wearers neck and body.

Referring now to the embodiment of FIG. 5, this embodiment is substantially the same as that of FIG. 1, except that the separator means is different. Such separator means includes a bracket 60 attached to the upper portion 24 of the rear casing member 14. A separator ring unit generally designated 62 is hingedly attached to the bracket 60 by a hinge 64 shown in FIG. 6. The ring shaped unit 62 includes a generally semi-circular, U-shaped base portion 66 having an upper portion 68 which hingeably connects at 64 with the bracket 60. A rotatable and preferably knurled roller 70 extends transversely across the base portion 66 and is attached thereto by a suitable pivot pin or the like. The pivot axis for the roller 70 is parallel to the pivot axis of the hinge 64 and also parallel to the pivot axis of the hinge 32. The cover portion 72 of the separator ring 62 is attached at one side to one edge of the base 66 by means of a hinge 74. At its other side, a fold over flap 76 is provided to frictionally engage the exterior of the base member 66. A raised or folded portion 78 can be provided along the cover 72 to facilitate manual opening and closing thereof.

In use, the entire ring unit 62 is folded upwardly in the manner shown in FIG. 6 and the rear tail 50 of the necktie is introduced through the upper opening A. Then, the ring unit is folded downwardly, as shown in FIG. 7 and the cover portion 72 is opened, as shown in FIG. 8. The forward tail 52 of the tie is then introduced through the opening B, is placed across the roller 70, and the cover 72 for the roller is then closed, as shown in FIG. 9. Finally, as shown in FIG. 10, the two casing halves can be closed together and maintained in this closed position by frictionally inter-engagement between the side flanges 20 on the forward casing unit and the side flanges 28 on the rear casing unit. Again, the tails 50 and 52 of the necktie can be adjusted with respect to one another and the knot unit 10 can be adjusted with respect thereto.

After reading the foregoing detailed description, it should be apparent that the objects set forth at the outset hereof have been successfully achieved by the present invention.

Accordingly what is claimed is:

l. A tie-knot unit comprising:

a forward casing member;

a rear casing member;

hinge means interconnecting said forward and rear casing members at their upper ends;

said casing members being configured at their upper ends to form a pair of upper openings, disposed on opposite sides of said hinge means, through which the ends of a necktie can be inserted into the interior of the casing members;

said casing members being configured at their lower ends to form a bottom opening through which the ends of said necktie can hang beneath said unit; and separator means within said knot unit attached to at least one of said casing members to guide and position said necktie portions which are disposed within said knot unit and to separate the tie portion entering the unit through one upper opening from the tie portion entering the unit through the other upper opening for at least a portion of their passage through the unit towards said bottom openings;

wherein said separator means is hingedly mounted on the upper portion of the interior of the casing, and comprises a frame having a base portion, a rotatable roller mounted on the base portion, and a cover portion hingedly mounted on the base portion;

whereby the end of the tie entering the unit through one of said upper openings passes between the base portion of the separator means and the rear casing member, and the other end of the tie, entering the unit through the other upper opening passes between the cover portion and the roller of the separator means.

2. A tie-knot unit as defined in claim 1 wherein said roller is rotatable about an axis parallel to the axis of said hinge means.

3. A tie-knot unit as defined in claim 2 wherein said unit has a longitudinal axis extending centrally through said bottom opening and wherein said roller and hinge axes are perpendicular to said longitudinal axis.

4. A tie-knot unit as defined in claim I wherein aid casing members are fabricated of metal and wherein a fabric sheet is adhered to the interior of said rear casing member.

* t i I 

1. A tie-knot unit comprising: a forward casing member; a rear casing member; hinge means interconnecting said forward and rear casing members at their upper ends; said casing members being configured at their upper ends to form a pair of upper openings, disposed on opposite sides of said hinge means, through which the ends of a necktie can be inserted into the interior of the casing members; said casing members being configured at their lower ends to form a bottom opening through which the ends of said necktie can hang beneath said unit; and separator means within said knot unit attached to at least one of said casing members to guide and posi-tion said necktie portions which are disposed wIthin said knot unit and to separate the tie portion entering the unit through one upper opening from the tie portion entering the unit through the other upper opening for at least a portion of their passage through the unit towards said bottom openings; wherein said separator means is hingedly mounted on the upper portion of the interior of the casing, and comprises a frame having a base portion, a rotatable roller mounted on the base portion, and a cover portion hingedly mounted on the base portion; whereby the end of the tie entering the unit through one of said upper openings passes between the base portion of the separator means and the rear casing member, and the other end of the tie, entering the unit through the other upper opening passes between the cover portion and the roller of the separator means.
 2. A tie-knot unit as defined in claim 1 wherein said roller is rotatable about an axis parallel to the axis of said hinge means.
 3. A tie-knot unit as defined in claim 2 wherein said unit has a longitudinal axis extending centrally through said bottom opening and wherein said roller and hinge axes are perpendicular to said longitudinal axis.
 4. A tie-knot unit as defined in claim 1 wherein aid casing members are fabricated of metal and wherein a fabric sheet is adhered to the interior of said rear casing member. 